Fence
"Lad, if it ain’t worth risking yer neck over to bring to me, then it’s probably not worth my time." Advanced (Core) The majority of Burghers and Tradesmen are willing to deal in goods of questionable legality. Such merchandise is the stock and trade of the Fence. They are experts at liquidating stolen goods. For a percentage of the profit, they take a thief ’s bounty and move it to another town, city, or even country where it can be more safely disposed of. Fences are experts at evaluating the worth of any given item and therefore exactly how hot it is likely to be. The greater the risk, the greater the cut they demand. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Evaluate, Gamble, Gossip, Haggle, Intimidate, Perception, Sleight of Hand Talents: Dealmaker or Streetwise, Strike to Stun, Super Numerate Trappings: Trade Tools (Engraver’s Kit), Writing Kit Career Entries Bone Picker, Burgher, Cat Burglar, Ex-Convict, Grave Robber, Innkeeper, Racketeer, Rapscallion, Smuggler, Steward, Thief, Tomb Robber Career Exits Charlatan, Crime Lord, Master Thief, Racketeer Measure for Measure Fences gauge their bounty based on a wide variety of issues. Whatever an item’s normal value, it’s potentially affected by five discreet factors: * Availability can be abundant or rare, dropping or raising prices as a result. This applies more for commonality of an item in a given setting, not any adjustments made by customization. * Demand for said items wherever the fence moves goods can be low or rabid. Also, the more it costs for a fence to move an item where demand is high reduces pay offs locally. * Prices rise or fall by the quality and craftsmanship of any item. * The uniqueness or notoriety of an item increases prices with each identifying trait or feature, making specialized custom items (or common things used extraordinarily – “this knife slew Baron Kajrol!”) expensive. * If an item has been owned by anyone of influence, provenance (whether true or false) can increase prices on an item for the fence, but rarely the seller due to the risk. What bring a fence’s buying price down are the risks and difficulties: * Reputations (of an item or its true owners) can both increase an item’s worth and the risks in moving it. * Law enforcement attentions or interests in an item raise difficulties in moving an item quietly. * The distance an item must go to get to its best resale market also reduces what a fence may pay for it. * The art of the fence exists in balancing the rewards and worth of items against the risks of selling them. After all, one can’t receive profits, no matter how good the items, if previous owners can trace items back to the fence. Karin Dellardar Her arresting purple eyes hoodwinked many over her years, and they proved memorable enough that this lovely dwarf had to leave Nuln for Marienburg when too many victims caught her eye. Over six years, Karin had fleeced nearly one in five of the major merchant houses through embezzlement or direct theft. Her past interests in the mercantile houses and her new identity as Karin Dellardar have merged – she poses as the purchasing and sales agent for the Tagranden Merchant Consortium, which only exists on forged papers and in tavern rumors in the western Empire and Wastelands. Her partners in crime all profit in the ruse, as Karin moves goods (stolen by her elven friend Synnaela Maruvaar, among others) off to foreign ports via The Blade Maiden (courtesy of her lover, ship’s mate Aldar Mordinstone).